Bolt cruises to Brussels win

USAIN BOLT again stole the show before a sell-out attendance at the Ivo Van Damme Memorial Golden League meeting in Brussels last night setting a new stadium record when winning the 200m in 19.57 secs — only himself and Michael Johnson have run quicker.

The rain that came pouring down during the meet and a plummeting temperature — 13 degrees and below — was always going to affect the times and the performances and one can only speculate as to what might have happened if the conditions had been ideal after Bolt “jogged” across the line.

He left world-class athletes struggling behind him. Wallace Separmon (USA) took second place in 20.19 secs with the new kid on the block, 20-year-old Ramil Guligev (Azerbaijan), third in 20.47 secs.

Brendan Christian and Ireland’s Paul Hession were left battling it out for fourth and fifth with the Antiguan sprinter shading fourth in 20.61 secs to Hession’s 20.65 secs for fifth with Tgrell Kimmers (USA) sixth in 20.84 secs.

Jeremy Wariner was always going to win the 400m but the former Olympic and world champion was the only man in the field to break 45 seconds as he won in 44.94 secs.

There was plenty of drama behind and David Gillick was involved. Renny Quow (Trinidad), the world championship bronze medallist, produced another powerful run down the home straight to take second place in 45.55 secs.

Gillick, with Michael Bingham, the US-born British runner, alongside, staged a storming fightback to overtake Martyn Rooney but he, in turn, was overtaken by Bingham.

Gillick finished fourth in 45.73 secs to equal his placing in Zurich a week earlier with Bingham third in 45.70 secs and Rooney fifth in 45.83 secs.

Derval O’Rourke finished fifth in the women’s 100m hurdles in 13.08 secs. The race was won by the world champion, Brigitte Foster-Hylton (Jamaica), in 12.48 secs as Berlin silver medallist, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (Canada), set a new PB at 12.49 secs for second place with Delloreen Ennis-London (Jamaica) third in 12.71 secs.